Not every company needs a mobile app

With the majority of cell phones shipping worldwide with Internet browsing capability and the incredible rise in tablet popularity, we are witnessing a convergence of mobility and the Web.

This is triggering a mobile gold rush similar to the Internet boom of the 1990s. Companies of all sizes are scrambling to build mobile apps, which is creating a shortage of qualified mobile developers.

To intensify matters, the mobile application development landscape includes countless devices, several programming languages and a completely new design paradigm, making it extremely difficult for developers to make the transition. As a result, most organizations are outsourcing their mobile app projects to consulting firms and boutique development shops that are happy to take their money.

Unfortunately, like some of the early mistakes that companies made 15 years ago with websites and Web applications, many of these mobile projects are a waste of time and money.

Just because there is a mobile app for almost anything these days doesn’t mean every company or department needs one. The same principles that have always applied to making corporate technology investments still apply today for mobile projects: Where is the business value, and what is the return on investment? For most companies, legitimate corporate mobile initiatives fall into three categories.

The first mobile initiative that every company should be focused on is probably not what you think; unfortunately, most companies will ignore it until it’s too late. Employees are already using their personal smartphones and tablets for work, and employers are extending their corporate environments to these devices to drive productivity.

Because employees are accessing sensitive documents and emails and connecting to their corporate networks, information technology departments should be scrambling to secure, manage and monitor this new mobile frontier. Smartphones and tablets are computers, period. They must be treated like every other corporate computing resource, including laptops, desktops and servers. Companies can keep ignoring this issue until one of their employees loses an iPad and informs the IT department that he or she has downloaded sensitive company documents to the device and hasn’t secured it with a personal identification number. Or, an employee introduces a malicious virus behind the company’s firewall by accessing the Wi-Fi network with an Android phone. Both scenarios happen every day.

After securing their mobile infrastructure, the second mobile initiative that companies can turn their attention to should target their customers. How do they engage customers through mobile devices? How can they connect with them, provide them more value and, ultimately, generate more revenue? This is typically where companies waste the most money. Lured by the shiny glitter of mobile apps and the empty promise of “if you build it, they will come,” many companies ignore basic business due diligence, forgo market research and often don’t talk to their customers before launching mobile projects. They can end up squandering time and money building a mobile app that no one outside of the company will ever use.

The third and often most straightforward mobile initiative that companies can undertake is centered around their employees. How do they extend existing enterprise applications to their entire workforce through mobility? These types of mobile projects are usually less risky because they deal with a captive audience and have a higher probability of predictable and measurable outcome. Of course, the same principles of business value and return on investment apply.

The mobile revolution is here, and it’s time to embrace it. There is tremendous opportunity to leverage this new medium to grow your brand, generate revenue and drive productivity. But it’s important to use business common sense when making mobile investment decisions. Don’t assume that you need a mobile app for everything — chances are you don’t.

Sam Goodner is CEO of Catapult Systems Inc., an information technology consulting company. He was a 2008 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award winner for Central Texas.